Ted Ballard became an apprentice engineer on leaving school and was spending the War in a Hayes ordnance factory manufacturing weapons, when he signed amateur forms at Griffin Park. He had been born 50 yards from Brentford’s ground and he played a couple of war-time games during 1944-45 for the Bees before traversing London to sign pro forms for Leyton Orient. Then came a move to Southampton as another wing-half, Bill Stroud made the opposite move.

Understanding Joe Mallett was an education, as Ballard effectively became a pupil – along with budding England full-backs, Bill Ellerington and Alf Ramsey – of those two outstanding football brains, Mallett and Bill Rochford. His education was further advanced on the club’s 1948 tour of Brazil. His assessment that their hosts played “an entirely different game” was adopted by Aidan Hamilton as the title of his 1998 book, which had been inspired by a young Saint introducing football to Brazil a century before (see Charles Miller profile).

After Ramsey had left for Tottenham in 1949, injuries to Ellerington and Rochford meant Ballard moving to full-back, where he intermittently played out his Southampton career. Stimulated by George Curtis, Ted took his FA badge and coached in local schools, notably Winchester College. Having never made the first team in a second spell at Orient, he then played non-league, going on to manage his last two clubs – Ashford and Hastings – in the Southern League. He later became a franchising officer for Green Shield Stamps and then sold double glazing, before retiring to St Leonards-on-Sea.